SHIFT IN CHINA’S TEXTILE AND APPAREL IMPORTS

China is one of the top importers and exporters of textiles and apparels in the world. Covid 19 has led to a huge dwindle in the exports of not only textiles and apparels but also other products that were majorly exported from China before pandemic. As China’s manufacturing costs grow, several low-cost developing countries are gaining traction in this export market. Imports that were considerably less in the previous years have visibly hiked post pandemic.

China had imported textile and apparel products worth 1.4 billion USD during January – April 2020 from Europe which swelled up to 2 billion USD in 2021 during the same period. There was 44.11% growth observed in the imports from Europe. 35.74% growth was observed in the import from Vietnam as it increased from 1.2 billion USD in January to April 2020 to 1.7 billion USD in 2021 during the same period. Import from USA that were 0.6 billion USD during January to April 2020 increased by 0.4 billion USD in January to April 2021 marking 72.98% growth in the same. Highest growth was observed in Italy’s export of textile and apparel products to China. India’s export of Textile and Apparel imports almost doubled from 0.4 billion USD to 0.8 billion USD with 67.83% growth. Japan’s export to China remained constant for both the mentioned durations which were worth 0.7 billion USD. There was a slight growth in Brazil and Australia’s exports which were 0.6 billion USD and 0.5 billion USD respectively. 10.14% growth was observed in Taiwan’s exports to China as its exports swelled up from 0.4 billion USD to 0.5 billion USD. Korea’s export dropped from 0.6 billion to 0.4 billion USD with -29.85%.